Faig maintains control

Nov. 30, 2016
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Harold Faig started as a controller installer at Cincinnati Milling Machine Co. and later as president and COO helped build Cincinnati Milacron (now Milacron LLC) into one of the world's largest makers of plastics processing machinery.

He was an early evangelist for electric drives and holds several patents. Working at Milacron when it launched a product-development process known as Wolfpack, Faig was part of the team tasked with ensuring the company could continue to make its products in the U.S. amid increased foreign competition.

After retiring from Milacron in 2003, he started a new career in medical processing, first as head of Tech Group and then as co-founder (with Baird Capital) of MedPlast Inc., Tempe, Ariz., an advanced medical contract manufacturing company.

Faig recently spoke with PMM senior correspondent Doug Smock.

How did you get into the plastics industry?

Faig: In 1969, I was at Cincinnati Milling Machine Co. [which became Cincinnati Milacron] and was drafted into the fledgling plastics machinery business. That's right about when "The Graduate" movie came out and people were talking about plastics. I had been involved in the early stages of adapting advanced [numerical] controls to machine tools. The company had just purchased AGM in Austria, which made conical PVC twin-screw extruders, followed by a quick second acquisition of APM, also in Austria, which made parallel PVC twin-screw extruders. These two companies, along with our developing plastics injection molding machinery business, were to provide the basis for our plastics machinery platform. We developed technology internally to expand the platform: industrial and stretch blow molding, as well as reaction injection molding machinery. Additionally, we made two more acquisitions: Uniloy, further expanding blow molding; and DME, our entry into mold bases and components. When I retired, our plastics machinery business was over $900 million.

You started on the factory floor and rose to become president and COO. How did that happen?

Faig: I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. The company was growing and engineering capabilities were key to executing on the growth opportunities.

As a company, we never made plastic parts as a business. Yet we became the world's largest plastics machinery builder. How could we build plastics machinery if we never made plastics parts?

All of our expertise came from our customers. I had the good fortune of being involved with our technical service group where the customer interface was critical to understanding how the machinery and processing should work together.

My electrical engineering background, experience building machine tools and plastics machinery, time interfacing with customers in technical service and time spent solving processing problems at customer locations around the world all positioned me for playing a role in the new plastics machinery business the company was building.

After starting on the ground floor of this new business, I went on to product management, to chief engineer, to operations management, to general manager and to responsibility for the global plastics machinery business. Our machine tool and plastics machinery controls businesses were then added to my responsibilities. I then was asked by the board to become president and COO of the company.

Could that happen today?

Faig: I am sure it could. With the right set of circumstances and people, I would not be surprised to see it happen again. I think my story is the story of a lot of people. It was very important for me to have a fundamental understanding of science. My best friend was my slide rule because you develop an understanding of how to build from scratch. I make sure our engineers are operating at a very fundamental level of technology and are not just buying things out of a catalog.

I recall talking to you in the 1980s about your belief that electric injection molding machines were the future for general molding. What gave you that feeling?

Faig: Having a deep understanding of servo systems and their application to mechanical devices allowed me to see the opportunity. When Fanuc came to Cincinnati and asked to license our machine design so that they could integrate their controls and motor designs, it made perfect sense. You can do anything with an electric machine that you can do with a hydraulic machine. And there are many benefits, starting with energy savings. Ever since, it has been a horse race to drive this technology with plastics machinery. Not only do we see this technology coupled with plastics machinery, but also on molds.

 You retired from Milacron in 2003 and then went into the molding business. Why did you want to go into molding?

Faig: At the time, I was on the board of the Tech Group, a global medical molder, and knew the principals well. They were looking for someone to redirect the company and take it to the next level. I was available and looking for another challenge. Having been in the arena, it's hard to walk away.

The Tech Group was sold, and I had a clear vision on what I would do differently if I was starting over in the medical device industry with a clean sheet of paper.

In fact, [Baird Capital and I] put a white paper together to create a business model that would focus solely on medical devices. This is the business we created in 2008 — this is MedPlast.

What are the principles of creating a successful medical processing business?

Faig: First, you have to be dedicated to the medical business. You must focus 100 percent of your energy on understanding the business. Medical customers do not care about your equipment. Most molders walk in the door talking about their machinery or mold making. Medical customers want to know if you understand ablation devices, trocars, ligatures, syringe barrels, the nature of 13485 [ISO] requirements, FDA requirements and very importantly, how can you help protect them from product failures and liability?

Second, you have to consider yourself an extension of their own manufacturing systems. For example, you have to be in the right location. There are half a dozen locations in the United States that are within 300 miles of 95 percent of the country's medical device manufacturing. So when we created MedPlast, in our first acquisition, we targeted a company that had plastics processing plants in the right locations. 

Third, you need dedicated facilities with specialized capabilities in whatever type of manufacturing method the customer requires. We have one plant that does multicomponent molding for the East Coast and another for the West Coast. One does thermoset processing. One does blow, fill and seal where we provide sterile water in a blow molded container for applications like wound treatment. 

Fourth, you need to be material neutral. You need to process thermosets and thermoplastics. You need to know medical silicones and have LIM [liquid injection molding] capabilities.

And finally, you need to have one corporate quality system over all your plants so that your customers don't have to deal with a different quality system at each plant.

What are some examples of the equipment customization at MedPlast?

Faig: Our primary process equipment is seldom new because of the amount of customization we provide, which we view as intellectual property. Our direct compression molding of implantable devices uses 40-ton machines that compress UHMWPE [ultra-high molecular weight PE] into net-shape joint replacements. These machines are built to our specifications by a specialty machine shop. UHMWPE does not melt and must be sintered under high pressure and temperature. We also use ram extruders to, in effect, jackhammer materials like UHMWPE under high temperatures and pressures in an extrusion barrel. These machines were also designed in-house and built by a custom shop. This requires a deep understanding of machinery, which is my background.

Tell us about MedPlast's two 7,000-ton vertical compression molding presses.

Faig: They are part of our most recent acquisition, Orthoplastics of Manchester, England, that puts us at what I consider the top of the pyramid of medical processing. It gets us to the most advanced processes and the actual manufacturing of implantable medical devices, which is one of our goals.

The cycle time for the 7,000-ton vertical compression presses is eight hours and they do two heats a day. UHMWPE powder is poured into a die. A sheet is formed under high pressure and is about 6 inches thick. The sheet is cut into 4-inch cubes, which are then machined into knee and hip implants.

Now that you're on the other side of the desk, what's your view of the quality and capabilities of the plastics processing machinery that is available?

Faig: The quality and capabilities of plastics processing machinery are as good now, or better, than ever.

What are you most proud of in your career?

Faig: Well, I'm still here. In all sincerity, I am most proud of being able to transition from a machine builder to a processor in a very demanding medical market. Few people make the transition. Each of these industries can and has provided a full career.

The timing of our launch in 2008 was very difficult. No one knew that a major recession was coming. We had a great group that persevered and, thank goodness we did, because we created a great medical contract manufacturer.

I am also very proud of our team at Cincinnati Milacron and the creation of the Wolfpack process in 1985, when foreign competition was wiping out many American plastics equipment producers. We used cross-functional teams to rethink product design and development. We involved our suppliers and customers in the process. The goals were to reduce costs, improve quality and to get products to market faster. I like to think it played an important part in keeping plastics equipment manufacturing in the United States.